“If I’m ever asked I always put my hand up and say that I’m confident to take that one” – Chelsea defender says he enjoys taking penalties

Chelsea left-back Ben Chilwell has claimed that he is ready to be one of the penalty-kick takers at the club. This comes after he scored in the shoot-out in their pre-season friendly against Charlotte FC on Thursday, July 21.

The English defender suffered a serious knee injury in November last season and missed the rest of the season as a result, playing just 13 matches. He has fully recovered now and has played in both of his team's pre-season-friendly games this month.

Chilwell started in the Blues' 2-1 win against Club America at the Allegiant Stadium and came on as a substitute against Charlotte FC. The game ended 1-1 after regular time but the MLS side beat the west Londoners in a penalty shoot-out.

The former Leicester City left-back was Chelsea's second penalty-kick taker, and just like Kai Havertz, he buried his spot-kick. Conor Gallagher's miss proved to be costly as Charlotte won 5-3 in the shoot-out.

Chilwell, while speaking to the official Chelsea website, claimed that he enjoys the pressure of taking penalty kicks. He added that he will always be willing to step up to the plate in similar situations if the team needs him.

"I enjoy it. The pressure has got to be on someone and we've got a lot of personalities in our team who are quite happy to step up. If I'm ever asked I always put my hand up and say that I’m confident to take that one."

The energetic full-back isn't renowned for his penalty-taking abilities yet, but Thomas Tuchel would appreciate the 25-year-old's confidence.

He also scored from the spot in the penalty shoot-out where the Blues lost to Liverpool in the Carabao Cup final.

Jorginho is currently trusted to be Chelsea's regular penalty-kick taker and that is unlikely to change next season.

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Ben Chilwell looking forward to Chelsea's pre-season friendly against Arsenal

Chelsea are set to take on Arsenal in the final of the Florida Cup at the Camping World Stadium on Saturday, July 23.

In the same interview, Chilwell claimed that regardless of the match being a pre-season friendly, the Blues want to beat the Gunners.

"Whether it's pre-season or not, matches against Arsenal are a rivalry and we want to win."

Arsenal come into this final having won all three of their games this month.

The Gunners started off their pre-season campaign with a 5-3 win against Nurnberg.

A 2-0 win against Everton followed, with Mikel Arteta's side beating Orlando City by a 3-1 scoreline on Thursday, July 21 in their next match.

They have an Emirates Cup final against Sevilla on July 30 after their game against the Blues.

Tuchel's side, meanwhile, will wrap up their pre-season games with a friendly against Udinese on July 30.